Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 373 - 30: Parasitic Tentacles_2

"Did you really intend to exchange a life with it back then?" Sun Hang asked.

"What else?" Wang Xiyi turned her head and gave Sun Hang a glare, "If I hadn’t acted, maybe not many people would have survived that day."

"Do you really care about their lives?" Sun Hang asked again.

"I am a tool ’manufactured’ to deal with supernatural entities, it’s my duty," Wang Xiyi said seriously, but the next second, she suddenly smiled, "But not anymore, my previous life was sold to them, now this life, I intend to live well."

"You look really beautiful when you smile."

Wang Xiyi pouted and mumbled, "You’ve said that to quite a few girls, haven’t you?"

"Uh, let me think... I guess since I woke up, I’ve said it to Yang Qi and you, but I’m telling the truth, you both look much better when you smile than when you’re wearing a sour face..."

"I’ll believe you just this once... Besides, don’t you care about the lives of ordinary people? If you didn’t care, why would you participate in this mission? With your authority, the Disaster Response Committee shouldn’t be able to force you to join, right?"

"I just made a deal with Mr. Pei," Sun Hang sighed, "But you did remind me, it’s time to go to Mr. Pei to cash in part of the reward. Just wait until after the mimetic sample collection is completed, a round trip should take three days."

"Mr. Pei... Mr. Pei, what did he promise you?" Wang Xiyi asked curiously.

"He said, I can choose any supernatural entity contained in Dubhe Tower at will."

"At will..." Wang Xiyi was stunned for a moment, "You mean, after you choose, use Taotie’s ability to devour those supernatural entities?"

"What else?" Sun Hang shrugged, "To put it plainly, it’s just an all-you-can-eat buffet voucher that never expires."

Wang Xiyi frowned, "Haven’t you considered the risk... The stronger the supernatural entity, the more dangerous it is to absorb. They might even turn the tables on you, assimilating and devouring your consciousness... If you really want to absorb, I suggest you start from the weaker supernatural entities, go gradually, it’s safer."

"Do you think the Black Dragon counts as a strong supernatural entity?"

"Yes."

"I can absorb even the Black Dragon mimetic sample inside you, I think, even if Dubhe Tower’s collection has entities stronger than the Black Dragon, they should be rare," said Sun Hang.

"That time was just your luck... Besides, I only inherited part of the Black Dragon’s mimetic sample, a full Black Dragon’s breath can burn a city to ashes, even if you have no concept of strength, you can’t equate me with the Black Dragon, right?" Wang Xiyi said with some helplessness.

"But even a complete Black Dragon can’t be contained by Dubhe Tower, otherwise, Xiazhou Federation wouldn’t have dropped a nuclear bomb," Sun Hang argued.

As they spoke, the supernatural entity had already been torn to pieces by Supernatural Remains No. 001.

Sun Hang walked up to inspect some of the remains of the supernatural entity, he found that only a shriveled skin was left of it, its organs, flesh, and even bones had all turned into tentacles—these tentacles were covered in tiny pores, and with a slight squeeze, a corrosive liquid with a strong stench would seep out, Sun Hang merely touched it and the skin at his fingertip got burned off.

"It doesn’t seem like it was infected," Sun Hang murmured.

"Not infected?" Wang Xiyi was puzzled, "But those field agents... they’ve clearly turned into supernatural entities?"

"What I mean is, these supernatural entities parasitized inside them, turned their bodies into nourishment... There’s an herb called ’Cordyceps’, have you heard of it?" Sun Hang stood up, shook off the corrosive liquid from his hand, and his bloody fingertip immediately healed.

"Moreover," Sun Hang continued, "I just found a piece of human skin that had been torn, although it’s stained with quite a bit of tentacle supernatural entities’ mimetic sample, it actually shows no signs of infection."

"Are you saying, those tentacle supernatural entities crawled inside them, consumed their bones and flesh, using these materials as nourishment... and kept the outer skin as a disguise... but this disguise is too clumsy, a boneless, flabby humanoid creature... any normal person would recognize this as a supernatural entity, right?" Wang Xiyi said.

"But when wearing a heavy protective suit and a power exoskeleton, it’s hard to tell," Sun Hang looked up at Zhong Ling on Gargantel’s back, "Tell me, if Zhong Ling’s skin underneath were filled with these tentacle entities, could you tell just by appearance that she wasn’t human?"

"Why are you using me as an example?" Zhong Ling whispered a protest.

"But once you get closer, you can sense the entity’s aura, right?" Wang Xiyi asked confusedly, "Although my sensory abilities aren’t as good as yours, at such close range, I can also ’smell’ that uncomfortable ’stench’ they emit."

Sun Hang pointed to the far-off protective suit fragments being carried away in the slime, "But those field agents couldn’t discern it, the mimetic sample’s fluctuations of this area can be detected everywhere, the instruments can’t judge the person in front of you is a human or entity, combined with bad weather, low visibility, and the mud that’s all over the ground hindering movement greatly, makes the occupied skins’ odd movements seem ’reasonable’...

Sun Hang continued, "I estimate, at the start, some unlucky guy got attacked by these tentacle entities, after being parasitized, the entity controlled his skin to run back to the observation post, infecting more people, the initial observation posts didn’t have many people, suddenly attacked by ’companions’, they had no chance to send a message."

"Should we send this information back?" Zhong Ling asked.

"Send it, but suggest adding a disclaimer at the end, this is just my speculation based on existing information, may not be accurate. If the command makes a wrong decision because of this, it’s not my responsibility." Sun Hang instantly used a magic card called "Non-stick Pan" to clear himself of responsibility.

"I think your speculation is pretty close to the truth," Wang Xiyi said, "Since that’s the case, the first objective of ’investigating the cause of the observation posts lost contact’ is mostly done, next, we just need to figure out the origin of these tentacle entities."

"No need," Sun Hang suddenly said.

"Huh? No need for what?" Wang Xiyi was momentarily at a loss.

"I mean, there’s no need to investigate the origins of these tentacle entities," Sun Hang explained, "Besides being somewhat deceptive under certain circumstances, they’re not very powerful; even if it’s not a Hunter, any ordinary person equipped with modern weapons can easily deal with these entities... Our sole purpose on this mission is to obtain the mimetic sample of Chimera 17."

"But there should be a connection between these entities and Chimera 17, right?" Zhong Ling hesitated.

"Does it matter?" Sun Hang countered, "As long as we get the mimetic sample, the connection between these entities and Chimera 17 means nothing for the next operations... Yang Qi tasked us with investigating the observation posts’ loss of contact because she worries about unknown changes from Chimera 17. Now knowing it’s just these weak entities causing trouble, the prior worry was completely unnecessary."

After finishing, Sun Hang suddenly squinted his eyes.

He took a deep breath, gestured for Wang Xiyi and Zhong Ling to keep silent.

"Sorry, I take back what I just said," Sun Hang whispered, "Besides these tentacle entities, it seems there’s something else here."